Gaming & Culture —

Nintendo top studio in UK

Nintendo has claimed its spot as the best-selling studio in the UK, beating …

Develop magazine has put out its annual "Develop 100," a listing of the top 100 studios in the UK based on retail sales data. This year, Nintendo took over the top spot, wrestling it away from the top studio of the past three years, EA Canada. In fact, thanks to the success of the Wii and DS, Nintendo more than doubled the sales output of its closest competitor. Here is Develop's list

Nintendo

EA Canada

Ubisoft Montreal

Konami

Infinity Ward

EA Black Box

Maxis

Bungie

Sega Studios Japan

Traveller's Tales

While studios like Nintendo and EA Canada had a number of hits to carry them through this past year, the majority of top-ten studios are riding on one big game, proving that the industry really has become hit-driven. Ubisoft Montreal: Assassin's Creed, Infinity Ward: Call of Duty 4, Bungie: Halo 3, Sega Japan: Mario & Sonic at the Olympics, Traveller's Tales: Lego Star Wars.

There were a total of 9 EA studios in the top 100, while several top-tier developers ranked surprisingly low. Square-Enix came in at the 34th spot, while Blizzard landed in 47th and Valve was all the way down at 58th. As far as regions go, Europe claimed the top number of studios with 35, while the USA had 33, Japan 19, Canada 12, and Australia 1.